Christian Standard Bible
Leviticus 25:23
23“The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine, and you are only aliens and temporary residents on my land.
Leviticus 25:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
Context of Leviticus 25:23
21I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest. You will be eating this until the ninth year when its harvest comes in. “The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine, and you are only aliens and temporary residents on my land. 24You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy. 25If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold.
Read all of Leviticus 25Leviticus 25:23 word by word
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ לֹ֤א תִמָּכֵר֙ לִצְמִתֻ֔ת כִּי־לִ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֧ים וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים אַתֶּ֖ם עִמָּדִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 25:23
- Leviticus 25:10You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.
- 1 Kings 21:3But Naboth said to Ahab, “As the Lord is my witness, I will never give my ancestors’ inheritance to you.”
- Ezekiel 48:14They must not sell or exchange any of it, and they must not transfer this choice part of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 32:43Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries; he will purify his land and his people.
- 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for my name I will banish from my presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
- Psalms 24:1The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;
- Psalms 85:1Lord, you showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
- Isaiah 8:8It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through, reaching up to the neck; and its flooded banks will fill your entire land, Immanuel!
- Hosea 9:3They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Joel 2:18Then the Lord became jealous for his land and spared his people.
- Joel 3:2I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of my people, my inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up my land.
- Genesis 47:9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not reached the years of my ancestors during their pilgrimages.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Psalms 39:12“Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am here with you as an alien, a temporary resident like all my ancestors.
- Psalms 119:19I am a resident alien on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
- Hebrews 11:9By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise.
Commentaries on Leviticus 25:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23The land shall not be sold for ever - the land is mine - As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favorable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23These verses express the principle on which the law of Jubilee, as it regards the land, was based. The land belonged to Yahweh, and it was He who allotted it among the families of Israel for their use. No estate could therefore be alienated in perpetuity, by any human authority, from the family to whose lot it might fall. Leviticus 25:24 Grant a redemption for the land - i. e. grant power to recover the land to the original holder who had parted with it.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 23-34Verses 23-34 If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23it is Mine: Israel did not own the land in an absolute way. Their right to live there depended on the covenant, because God himself gave them the land (Deuteronomy 1:8, 39). From this idea of God’s ownership comes the call to care for the land as stewards and to share material resources with others.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 23-2823-28. The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families--who, however, held it of Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect a temporary sale. But they possessed the…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 25:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 25
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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